I’ve been thinking about the infidelity of Governor Mark Sanford, all over the news this week. We are doing a series called “Truth Haters” during the Gracepoint Friday Bible studies, and I thought that there must have been a lot of truth he avoided to get to this point. All this brought me to study the lessons from that most famous adulterer of all: King David.
2Sa 11:1 In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, David sent Joab out with the king’s men and the whole Israelite army. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained in Jerusalem.
2Sa 11:2 One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful,
2Sa 11:3 and David sent someone to find out about her.
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2Sa 11:9 But Uriah slept at the entrance to the palace with all his master’s servants and did not go down to his house.
2Sa 11:10 When David was told, “Uriah did not go home,” he asked him, “Haven’t you just come from a distance? Why didn’t you go home?”
2Sa 11:11 Uriah said to David, “The ark and Israel and Judah are staying in tents, and my master Joab and my lord’s men are camped in the open fields. How could I go to my house to eat and drink and lie with my wife? As surely as you live, I will not do such a thing!”
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God placed him there to fight the Lord’s battles; to lead the kingdom. He got lazy. He got idle. He fell.
Pacing about the palace roof, restless and yearning, betraying with each step his brothers out in the battlefield.
“The share of those who stayed behind with the supplies shall be the same as those who went to battle,” he once told bloody, sweaty, angry soldiers, so sure was he that they were all in this together. But now, here he is, the strange crown on his head, acting the part of the king.
No, David.
You are the Lord’s servant; you are the servant of the people. You are one of the fighters, just a soldier of the Lord. You are being unfaithful to your fellow warriors, your real friends and comrades, those who would die for you, and who you died a thousand deaths on the battlefield for. How have you come to this point? What has become of the crazy, joyful warrior, crawling on your belly into Saul’s camp at night with Abishai, with mischief on your mind, to steal silently away with Saul’s spear and water jug?
In battle, there was no one like David. Out there in the wild crags of En Gedi, there was none as brave, as sure, as ingenious and noble as David. A leader any warrior would be honored to die with. A leader who would die a hundred times for his men. In the palace, in a purple robe and manicured nails, pacing about restless on the roof of a palace full of a harem of concubines, he is loathsome. Like anything misplaced, having lost its function, he is useless and dangerous.
A man needs to stay battle ready. A man needs to fight. Fight for something. Challenge, adventure, sacrifice, and hard work: these are the things God calls a man to do; these are the circumstances in which a man’s best emerges. When men avoid this, their energies become degraded into lust; the corruptions of the life of ease cause a man to become sensual, and he becomes a slave to the senses.
What is the mission of God, the battles of the Lord that I am neglecting? Am I pacing about the roof, restless and selfish, betraying with each step my brothers out in the battlefield?
Uriah is dead.
This does not upset David. He does not properly mourn for such a choice warrior, a loyal friend and subject. This is the same David who mourned so touchingly, so deeply for the death of Saul, as much as for Jonathan. His genuine outrage at Baanah and Recab at IshBosheth’s murder … His heart was once sharp in its quick response to wrong of any kind. Now, he is so dull.
He is a man with broken inner equipment now.
Uriah’s death simply gets him closer to his goal, this woman Bathsheba.
Were they happy together? Did Bathsheba ever find out about the treacherous letter?
The sin, the deceit, the loss of confidence with Joab, and the other servants who knew, the ghost of Uriah haunted him for the rest of his life, weakening him internally, erroding away the columns of his life.
Don’t do it.
Just don’t do it. Don’t cross boundaries. Don’t covet what’s not yours. Don’t reach for that forbidden thing.
Run to the battle. Return to the adventure, the faith, the desperate prayers and glorious provisions of the deserts of your En Gedi.
Thank you. Gov. Sanford’s story really makes for a sobering example to underscore this week’s bible study message.
thanks for sharing Pastor Ed.
Pastor Ed, thank you for sharing, and for your powerful Bible study last Friday on the same point. The sobering reality of my capacity for self-rationalization and self-destruction reminded me of this haunting poem I read by C.S. Lewis in Pilgrim’s Regress.
Nearly they stood who fall;
Themselves as they look back
See always in the track
The one false step, where all
Even yet, by lightest swerve
Of foot not yet enslaved,
By smallest tremor of the smallest nerve,
Might have been saved.
Nearly they fell who stand.
And with cold after-fear
Look back to mark how near
They grazed the Siren’s land,
Wondering that subtle fate,
By threads so spidery-fine,
The choice of ways so small, the event so great,
Should thus entwine.
Therefore oh, man, have fear
Lest oldest fears be true,
Lest thou too far pursue
The road that seems so clear,
And step, secure, a hair’s
Breadth past the hair-breadth bourne,
Which, being once crossed forever unawares,
Denies return.
It is truly a sobering reality…
Thank you for your sharing. I was reminded of your post as I read Chuck Colson’s take on the entire situation. Colson argues quite Sanford should resign and first tend to his marriage.
http://roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/01/god-and-mark-sanford/
Thank you for sharing. Reminder of how the spiritual battle focuses our energies and giving our all to God’s work is actually a safeguard against our own sinful hearts.
Hi Pastor Ed,
That statement “Now, he is so dull.He is a man with broken inner equipment now.” I am reminded of a message from Waypoint Community Church that P. Timothy gave re: needing to be purified in order to do the work of God because God can’t use broken and unclean vessels. Thank you for writing this. It’s a warning all of us need to heed.
Thank you for reminding us to be faithful to what God has set in our lives – to not cross boundaries.
Thank you P. Ed again for this startlingly relevant message from many centuries ago. One thing that struck me when I read about Gov. Sanford, was the question, Where is this man’s Christian brothers, does he have a network of people he can share his struggles, temptations with, and from whom he could receive help, prayer, even companionship that may have prevented the first steps of his wandering? Not only did David cross boundaries and shirk his duty, but he was also away from those 30 mighty men who would have given their lives for him. Sure, you would hope he would hold strong on his own. But one has to wonder if the presence of these men and brothers would have helped him keep his mind. So also with us; how important brother and peer relationships really are, affecting or not affecting us in ways that might have drastic consequences down the line…thank you for reminding us of this.
Thank you for sharing, Pastor Ed! I too need to remember all the brothers and sisters around the world that are fighting the Lord’s battle daily so I won’t fall into sin’s traps.
thank you for your sharing p.ed. i am reminded of the power of sin, and that when my heart is not checked on a regular basis through reflection, confession, receiving accountability from my peers and leaders, then the direction of my life will indeed be a ’slow fade’ to destruction. when i live with proper fear of God, i can be delivered from hypocrisy and ungrounded fears. esp as a leader and someone who is older and supposed to be an example to younger ones, i am reminded that i need to be all the more vigilant about struggling with sin and fearing the Holy God more than anything…
Thanks for the reminder to move towards God’s calling and good work. It is a protection against idleness, selfishness,and self-focus. It reminds me to push myself and never be in that place of being idle or giving into my own desires.
Such wisdom…thank you so much for the insight, warning and challenge. I have seen the deadliness of the pathways of sin as well as the evil within my own heart that loves those paths. I am reminded of 2 Ti 2:22 – “Flee the evil desires of youth, and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.” May we all flee from sin and evil and give ourselves to fighting the battles of the Lord!
I am always reminded of 2 Tim 2:4 – that we are indeed to please our commanding officer and not get involved in civilian affairs. Again, I am refreshed to run to the battle and not turn to gaze upon all the distractions and temptations!